So
perhaps it shouldn't be so surprising that Putin, after a long week of not
governing Russia, unwound on Friday by headlining a celebrity benefit
concert. Like most such events, the St. Petersburg show may have been as much an
excuse for big-name celebrities to party as it was about fundraising for
children with cancer. But the international movie star attendees--Sharon Stone, Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, Kevin Costner, Gerard
Depardieu, Mickey Rourke, and others--were in for a very big surprise.
Putin, in a moment so bizarre it seems unreal, got on stage to sing
1940s jazz standard "Blueberry Hill" in pretty passable English. Here's the
video:

The New York Times' Robert Mackey suggests that this creepy and surreal performance could in fact be Putin's future:

The prime minister's performance came hours after the BBC reported
that a Kremlin official said President Dimitri Medvedev might run for a
second term in 2012, instead of handing the keys to the office back to
Mr. Putin.

An observer of Russian politics who insisted on anonymity told Reuters after Mr. Putin's gig, "Medvedev will now have to learn to play saxophone."